Before the Dawn Comes
by writeonblueeyes517
Summary: When Max starts having strange dreams about his future and understands what will happen to him, he starts trying to prevent that future from coming true. But what happens when he starts to realize that this future... Might just be what he's wanted all along? Max x Sarah fanfiction.
1. It All Began Last Night

"Phoebe! Where's my three-eighths wrench?" Max called to his sister as he emerged from his "lair".

"Oh, you mean this wrench?" Phoebe replied, producing the said item from out what seemed to Max like thin air.

"Think fast," she replied, tossing the tool far too hard at her twin.

Max easily caught it, glaring at his sister for going into his room and taking one of his things and then trying to hit him in the head with it.

"I'm the super villain in this family. Stop trying to be good at everything you little Goody-Goody bar!"

"Well least I'm sweet. Unlike you," his twin rebutted.

"Yeah, but your candy bar also has a whole loada nuts," Max said, snapping his fingers sassily at the annoyed look that crossed his sister's face.

Max hastily returned to his lair before Phoebe could come up with a comeback comment, sliding down the slide and somersaulting off his bed.

"I got my wrench back from Phoebe,"

"See! I was right! She did take it! Whatcha do to her? Stick a kick me sign to her back when she wasn't looking? Fill her shoes with pea soup? Put raw hamburger meat in front of her and tell it was brains?" Doctor Colosso interrupted, eager to hear about how Max got revenge on his twin sister.

"No of course not!" Max replied, putting his headphones on.

"I put tomato soup in her favorite shoes earlier today!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, pulling his headphones off out of excitement.

"I am so proud of you, you little do-eviler!" the bunny said, pretending as if he were about to cry.

"Thank you. Now, since I was able to retrieve my wrench, I can continue with the creation of my latest feat of engineering genius. The MaxVolt 2.0 will shoot into the atmosphere of earth, land on a satellite and steal it's power. That power will then be sent to my room, giving me the ability to watch those elusive international channels,"

Max explained to the rodent before he replaced his headphones on his head and started listening to his techno music playlist. It was a secret weakness for him that no one knew about. Not even Doctor Colosso.

The rabbit had soon gone to bed, ceasing his talking for the evening while Max whittled away at the time into the early morning hours.

Max woke with a start. He didn't even remember falling asleep.

He wasn't in his lair anymore, waking up from the table and realizing he was in the kitchen not exactly sure how he had gotten there.

The voices of children began to waft through the house, getting louder and louder.

A moment later, three kids came running into the room and instantly began arguing.

"I was totally first! Mark it down as another win for Dixmiester!" one of the two boys exclaimed, pointing at himself with both thumbs.

"Oh no you didn't! I got here first!" the girl exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You guys are both wrong! This is your victor. Please hold you applause," the other boy said, his siblings obeying his order far too quickly.

"Well you didn't have to hold it so convincingly," he muttered, walking over to the table.

"You kids need to stop arguing. I was clearly here first," Max said, gesturing to himself as he sat at the head of the table.

For some odd reason, he felt like he knew these kids. He couldn't remember ever seeing them before in his life, but it filled him with a strange sense of déjà vu when he saw them.

"Morning Dad," the boys said in unison as they sat at the table at the same time.

"Morning Dixon, Alex," Max replied, not really sure how he knew their names but strangely not suspicious that he did. It just felt so natural to him.

The girl made her way to the other side of the table, giving Max a hug before she sat down beside him.

"Morning Daddy," she said happily, the victory that she had just missed out on completely vacated from her mind.

"Who won this morning?" a fifth voice asked, joining in on the conversation.

But before anyone could answer, Max suddenly startled himself awake.

He hastily looked around, realizing that he was in his room.

He must have fallen asleep while he was in the middle of the completion of his MaxVolt.

Max shook his head before removing his headphones and rubbing his eyes of any signs of sleep.

His eyes grew wide as he thought about his strange dream.

"I- I had kids. Three of them! I was a dad. All of them called me Dad! What were there names again?" Max muttered, searching through his drawers for his personal chronicle.

Unlike his evil chronicle, Max's personal chronicle was all about things that he didn't feel he could talk to anyone about. Things he struggled with, dreamed about doing, and future inventions that he thought other people might want to get their hands on before he had a chance to make them a reality.

He instantly began to write down details about his dream, starting with the names of his children.

"Dixon and Alex. My boys names are Dixon and Alex," his mind practically exploded as he pondered on this thought. They both had brown hair styled very similar to Max's own typical hair style, as well as bright, blue eyes that even in that short amount of time, Max could tell were full of curiosity and mischief. There seemed to be very little age difference between them, causing Max to deduce that they were most likely twins.

He didn't remember if he had ever heard the girl's name, but she was most certainly his daughter when it came to looks. She had long brown hair and brown eyes the same shade as his own. She was clearly younger than her brothers, possibly by two or three years.

Max wrote down as many details as he could remember from the dream before a yawn interrupted his thoughts. He glanced at his clock and saw that it was only four in the morning.

Shrugging, Max returned his chronicle to its drawer and hopped onto his bed, an odd hope filling his heart as he slipped under the covers and into a peaceful sleep.


	2. I Will Try to Explain

There were very few things in the world that were certain.

One of them was that Max was a grouch. He had been for the entire week and his whole family had noticed, staying clear of the grumpy teenager as much as they could.

When anyone who was daring enough to ask him why he was acting this way, he would just reply with a glare, freezing them in their spot. Not literally though.

The truth was something that Max could never tell anyone, because it was something so far fetched and out there that no one would believe him if did say anything.

He hadn't had a dream about his "kids" in over a week, and it was driving him absolutely batty not knowing more about them.

He really couldn't understand why this was getting under his skin, but it was, and there was no way that he could remedy the situation that would most definitely fix his situation. And frankly, his attitude.

Dinner was quiet on Max's side, knowing that if he opened his mouth at all, the likelihood of something exiting that was insulting towards the recipient was exceptionally high.

The other family members around him were chatting away about their day, Phoebe droning on and on about how her ballet practice had gone.

"And then the director said that I was the best lead dancer he had ever seen for the Nutcracker! He thinks I might even have a chance at becoming a professional ballerina!"

"That's wonderful sweetheart!" her mom praised, smiling proudly at her daughter.

"And what did you do today Max?" Hank asked his son, noticing that he hadn't been eating much of his food.

"Make another ninth grader cry today Max?" Phoebe teased before she took another bite of mashed potatoes.

"No. I didn't really do much," Max muttered, stirring more salt and pepper into his green beans.

"I thought you told me that you got an A+ on your science test today?" Billy questioned his brother, confused that Max hadn't mentioned it yet that day.

"Billy! I told you not to tell anybody!" Max complained, glaring at his little brother.

"Max! That's wonderful! Why would you want to keep that a secret from us?" Barb asked her son.

"Because it wasn't that big of a deal," he explained, turning his gaze back to his plate.

"Not that big of a deal! Max you barely ever get an A+ without cheating! This is huge! We have to celebrate!" Hank said, clapping his hands together at the thought of dessert.

"NO! That's the last thing I want!"

"Then what do you want Max?" Phoebe asked, raising an eyebrow at her twin;s reaction.

"I just want to be left alone!" he exclaimed, slamming his silverware down on the table.

"Max! That is not how you behave at this table!" his mother scolded him fiercely.

Max sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry. May I please be excused?"

"Sure," his father replied before his mom had a chance to answer.

Max left the table, taking his dishes with him.

After he had cleaned his dishes and put his food in a container for later, he silently made his way to his lair, sliding down his slide and out of sight of his very concerned family.

"Did you see that?" Nora asked.

"Yeah. Getting good grades, taking care of his dishes, being polite. Something is definitely wrong with him," Phoebe said.

"I don't think I've ever seen him so down before," Hank said, gazing at the empty spot at the table.

"He's been acting like this all week. I just can't believe that this slum that he's in is causing him to get a good grade on a science test," Barb replied as she placed some more green beans on Chloe's plate.

"Oh this science test wasn't his first good grade," Billy said innocently.

Every person at the table instantly turned their attention to the young boy.

"Uh, I mean, yes isn't that strange?" Bill corrected himself very unconvincingly.

"Spill it Billy," Nora ordered her brother, crossing her arms.

"But Max will kill me if I tell you!" Billy complained, knowing what his fate would be if he told his brother's secret to the rest of his family.

"He will not. And if he tries, he'll be grounded,"

His dad's words didn't really encourage him, but Billy knew he stood no chance against his whole family at once.

He took a deep breath, releasing it with a sigh.

"He dropped his folder the other day in his room, so I helped him pick up his papers. I saw all of his recent grades after I had finished. He's gotten an A in english, an A+ in math, and an A with a smiley face in history,"

"A smiley face?" his mom asked, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Mrs. Austin likes to give smiley faces to anyone that gets an A. She sees it as an incentive tactic," Phoebe explained, telekinetically bringing the butter to herself from across the table.

"What kind of student would that work for?" Nora asked, knowing that that sort of thing would be useless on her.

"Nora. Meet your sister Phoebe," Barb said to her younger daughter.

"Oh, yeah. She would think that that's a reward wouldn't she," Nora replied.

"Hey! I resent that!" Phoebe objected.

"And so do Philip and Brandon," Phoebe continued, bringing two school tests from out of no where, two red smiley faces crudely drawn with marker in their top corners.

"Phoebe. For your own good, you need to stop bringing the tests to the table. It's weird," Barb said to her daughter, placing a hand on Phoebe's arm.

"Don't you mean that it's unique, Mom?" Phoebe said, putting emphasis on the word "unique" and smiling happily at her mother.

Barb shook her head emphatically.

"No. Just weird,"

Down in his room, Max had been angrily working on his MaxVolt, having not been able to complete it yet due to his temper as of late.

Doctor Colosso had noticed the teens change in attitude, trying several times to ask him what was wrong, but was turned down every single time.

Max was on his bed, figuring out what schematics he could improve on his MaxVolt, when he heard footsteps.

"Who's there?" he asked, pointing his flashlight towards his stairs, the beam of light landing on his little sister.

"It's just me Max. And will turn that flashlight off! It's hurting my eyes!" she complained, shielding her eyes from the light.

Max sighed, relieved that it wasn't either of his parents or his twin.

"Sorry Nora. I thought you might be Mom or Dad,"

"Or Phoebe?" Nora responded.

"Even worse," Max muttered, turning on the room's lights so that his sister could see.

"Where is everybody?" he asked moving over and patting a spot on his bed for Nora to come sit on.

"In bed. I had to wait till they were all asleep before I could come down here. I felt like you might want someone to talk to,"

"I kinda do," Max admitted, pleased that his sister had taken the initiative to come to him.

"So what's been going on with you lately?" Nora asked as she sat beside her brother.

"If I tell you, you have to promise that you cannot tell anyone. Not Mom, Dad, and especially not Phoebe!"

"I promise! Cross my heart an hope to fly, burn you with my laser eyes," Nora replied, crossing her heart and then shooting her laser vision for a quick second at the piece of cardboard her brother was holding.

"Aw! So close Nora!" he said, as he examined that the two holes she had made were extremely close to the center of the target.

"You're getting much better," he said, smiling at her.

"So what's up bro?"

Max sighed.

"Do you ever have dreams about the future?" he asked, all playfully gone from his voice.

"Well, I did have a dream once that Mom and Dad bought me a unicorn, and you picked up knitting,"

"What?" Max asked, completely confused.

"All of my dreams are pretty outrageous you know. Nothing really possible," Nora explained.

"But have you ever had a dream that seemed really realistic?" Max asked again.

"No," Nora replied simply, shaking her head.

"Well I did. About a little over a week ago. And the funny thing is, it seemed so real," Max said as he stood up from his bed.

"What was it about?" his sister asked, laying down on her brother's bed and resting her head in her hands.

"Can I trust you not to tell anyone?" Max asked again, wanting to be absolutely certain that she would keep his secret to herself.

"Of course Max. I made the superhero promise!" she reassured him.

Max took a deep breath, nodding his head before he continued.

"I dreamt about my… (gulp) kids,"

"What do you mean, your kids?" she asked.

"I mean, I dreamt that I had three kids, and that they were,"

"You had three kids? What did they look like? What were there names? Telling me they were all girls!" Nora asked excitedly.

"I was getting to that!" Max said exasperatedly.

"And if you ask me one more question before I let you, you're not gonna find anything else out until you actually become an aunt," he threatened.

Nora hurriedly closed her mouth and made a motion that showed she was zipping her lips.

Max explained his dream to his sister with as many details as he could remember, Nora hanging on his every word. Max had always been a pretty good storyteller, but Billy and Nora had been forced to keep quiet about it. Max couldn't have his villain status marred by being a good children's storyteller.

When Max had finally finished, he looked at his sister and sighed and rolled his eyes before he smiled at her.

"Yes, you may speak,"

"That is the coolest thing I've ever heard! Not only am I gonna be an aunt, but I'm gonna get a niece that looks like me!"

"So you don't think it's totally weird?"

"No! This is awesome! What I don't get is why you're telling me this,"

"I'm telling you because you came to me. You didn't go talk to Mom and Dad first. I know, it's odd, but I needed to tell someone, and I felt like you were the only one that I could trust at the moment,"

Nora smiled at her big brother noticing that he seemed happier when he was able to speak about this.

"So why have you been acting like such a grinch lately then?" she asked.

"Because I haven't had any dreams like that one ever since!"

"It's driving you nuts isn't it?"

"Yes!" Max admitted, an extremely irritated expression on his face.

"Just wait. Try thinking about something else and that might help you trigger the dream pattern again,"

"Wow Nora. When did you get so smart?" Max asked, genuinely impressed.

"When you left your health book open," she explained pointing to the text book on his desk.

"I saw it when I came down. That, and I've been paying attention to when you and Phoebe do your homework. I swear, I will never be able to get her visual aids that she drew out of my head,"

Max shuddered at the thought. Phoebe had truly missed out on the artistic gene.

Nora rose from Max's bed, covering her mouth as a yawn escaped.

"You should probably get to bed. It's pretty late," Max said, putting his school books in his backpack for the next day.

"Ok. Good night Max," she replied as she climbed back up the stairs.

"Night Nora. Thanks,"

Few people ever saw the softer side of Max Thunderman.

And no one saw him when he snuck up to Nora's bedside and tucked her in after she had fallen asleep.

Or the genuine smile he sent her way before he left.


	3. If I Only Knew

Max did his best to avoid thinking of his strange dream, focusing more on his evil projects as well as his school work, bringing his grades up at a steady pace… and worrying his family to death.

"Do you have a fever?" Barb had asked him when he came home with an A on his most recent assignment.

"I'm fine Mom!" Max exclaimed, batting away her hands and trying his best to keep her from putting that thermometer in his mouth.

He slid down his slide to his lair, excited to finally finish the MaxVolt, while both his parents looked at each other with concerned expressions.

"Do you think he's finally gotten out of that 'super villain' phase of his?" Barb asked her husband as they sat on the couch.

"I don't know Barb. I'm hoping so," replied Hank as he turned on the television, his mind not paying attention to anything that was on. His brain was occupied by the worry he felt for his son.

Meanwhile, Max had cranked up the tunes on his phone, placing his headphones over his ears.

He took the advantage of Nora and Billy playing with Doctor Colosso outside by dancing his time away, doing move after move no matter how crazy or weird it looked.

No one was watching him anyway.

He began mouthing the words to the song as he continued his work on the MaxVolt.

Needless to say, he didn't get very far that night.

Max really didn't seem too upset by his lack of progress by the time he was called for dinner.

Billy returned Doctor Colosso to his cage and both boys made their way to the kitchen table.

The conversation was going well, Max even behaving when Phoebe bragged again about how well ballet practice had gone.

"You're gonna kill this performance sis. I'm really proud of you,"

Phoebe tossed him a mixed look of shock and unbelief, silence spreading across the table as his words sank in to everyone's brains.

"Are you sure you're feeling ok son?" Hank asked, placing his fork back onto his plate.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm real happy for Pheebs. She's worked really hard to get to where she's at,"

"And before anyone asks, no, I am not some non-evil clone of Max. And no Phoebe. You can't test that theory," Max said before Phoebe could manage to escape from the table.

Before anyone had an opportunity to pound the teen into the ground with questions, a yawn escaped his lips.

"I am beat. Is it alright if I go to bed early Mom?" he asked, placing his silverware on top of his now empty plate.

"Sure Max," she replied, still a little dumbfounded about her son's behavior.

"Thanks,"

And in the blink of an eye, he had cleaned his dishes and was out of sight, sliding down the entrance to his bedroom.

"Ok, there is something seriously wrong with him!" Phoebe pointed out, breaking the silence.

"I think he's just going through a phase. Phoebe just went through one the other day," Nora reminded her family.

"That is true," Hank nodded, agreeing with his daughter.

"It was not a phase!" Phoebe defended herself.

Every member of her family present gave her a pointed look.

"Collecting everything in sight that's pink isn't a phase? Just keep telling yourself that," Billy told her, continuing to eat his soup.

While the rest of his family finished their meal, Max had already done his nighttime routine and had settled under his covers.

"Night Doctor Colosso," he said as he turned out the lights.

"Night kid," the rabbit replied.

"Morning Dad," the boys said in unison as they sat at the table at the same time.

"Morning Dixon, Alex," Max replied, smiling at his sons.

The girl made her way to the other side of the table, giving Max a hug before she sat down beside him.

"Morning Daddy," she said happily, the victory that she had just missed out on completely vacated from her mind.

"Who won this morning?" a fifth voice asked, joining in on the conversation.

Max turned to the figure, another boy who looked older than the other three.

"Dad did again," the girl answered.

"Hey Jack, where's Mom?" Alex asked his brother as he sat down beside the girl.

"Not sure. She said she'd be home soon," the redhead replied.

"Could you get the milk Jack?" Max asked his eldest son.

Their eyes met for a moment, Max realizing that he was staring into a pair of eyes identical to his own.

"I'll get it Dad," Dixon offered, telekinetically opening the fridge and bring the half empty gallon to the table.

All of the kids began pouring themselves bowls of the cereal that had been on the table when they had gotten there.

"Don't use your freeze breath on your breakfast unless you're actually going to eat it this time Stacy," Max told his daughter as he eyed her actions out of the corner of his eye.

"Sorry Dad," she apologized as she refrained from doing so.

The conversation changed abruptly to school, Jack being the main contributor to it.

"But my teacher retracted her comment when she saw my grades. If I remember correctly, she said, 'I've changed my mind. There can be no room for improvement with Jack Thunderman,'"

"I swear, even though he hasn't got any powers, he scares me with his brain," Alex whispered to his twin, Dixon nodding in agreement.

"I heard that you two," Jack said as he finished his banana.

"And he has super hearing! I don't care what the tests say!" Dixon muttered back.

"Heard that too,"

Stacy adjusted her glasses, asking Dixon if he could pass the milk, which he gladly did telekinetically.

The family had settled into a comfortable silence when it was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

"I'm home!" a distinctly female voice called cheerily.

"Mom!" Stacy cried, jumping up from her chair.

But before she could leave, Max gave he a pointed look that told his daughter she needed to finish her breakfast first.

The sound of footsteps continued to get closer and closer until they ceased completely.

Max looked up and as soon as he did, he instantly saw blackness.

He awoke with a sudden jerk, sitting up in his bed.

He was panting heavily, his heart beating rapidly.

Max hastily threw off his covers and stumbled through his room over to his desk, retrieving his chronicle.

He turned on his desk lamp and haphazardly wrote down the things he remembered from his dream.

He sighed as he finished, his body relaxing as he returned to his bed.

But just as he was about to fall asleep again, he thought about his son Jack.

And the fact that he looked familiar.

But how?

Max drifted off with this one question at the forefront of his mind

Oooooooh! The plot thickens! Who do YOU think Max "married" in the future? Let me know in the comments. I can't reply though, because that ruin everything! Just keep reading to find out!

enjoy!

Always, WOBE


	4. Not What I Expected

Max paced nervously in his lair, waiting for Nora.

He had made several notes telling her to come see him as soon as she could, but she had never had an opportunity.

Something seemed to always come up, whether it was on Max's end or Nora's, there was always something.

One time, it had been Max's weekly chores.

Another time, Nora had a sleepover she had to attend.

And of course, every other time that they tried to have some alone time, someone magically appeared to keep them from it.

Max and Nora finally made the arrangement to meet down in his lair that coming Thursday night after everyone was asleep.

So here he was, waiting for his little sister to come down the stairs at any minute.

"What are you so nervous about kid?" Doctor Colosso asked as he watched the teen walk from one end of his room to the other very quickly.

"I'm not nervous. I'm unnecessarily stressed by the fact that Nora isn't here yet. Super villains don't get nervous. We have nerves of steal," Max explained.

"Isn't that what Captain Cirrus has?" the rabbit asked, knowing that he was right.

"Yes. Along with flight,"

"And a totally awesome cape!"

Doctor Colosso was very glad that Max had not gotten laser vision as one of his superpowers at that moment.

He was saved however from any harsh words when Nora came bounding down the stairs.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

"I had another one," Max replied excitedly.

"Another dream?"

Max nodded emphatically in reply.

"And this one picked up right where the other one left off!"

"What happened?" Nora asked as she hopped onto her brother's bed.

"I don't have three kids,"

"Well that's disappointing," Nora interrupted her brother glumly.

"You didn't let me finish. I was going to say, I don't have three kids. I have four,"

"Four?! Tell me the other one is a girl!" Nora pleaded, closing her eyes as if that would make her desire a reality.

Max shook his head.

"Nope. Another boy and his name is Jack,"

"Well what's he look like?"

"He looked very familiar to me, like someone that I actually know,"

"Like maybe your future wife?" his sister said, playfully wagging her eyebrows.

"Do you wanna hear about my dream or not?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.

Nora nodded, sitting in an indian position and turing her attention completely to her older brother.

"He had brown eyes just like mine and red hair. Not that hideous shade of red either that always looks like it's frizzy. It was that nice medium color, in between fire and auburn,"

"How do you know so much about hair color?" Nora asked curiously.

"You try to live with Phoebe and not pick up anything," Max said moving his hands to his hips, his eyebrow still raised.

"True," she said, understanding what he was saying from experience.

"So how old do you think they all are?" Nora asked returning to the original subject.

"Stacy is very clearly the youngest and Jack is obviously the oldest. He had that eldest sibling air about him you know?"

"You mean how Phoebe gets all 'I'm you big sister and you will do what I say'? Or how you trick us into helping you with your villain stuff? " she asked.

"No, more like when either of us get protective of any of you," Max explained to which his sister nodded in understanding.

"Besides, which one of us would you rather spend time with anyway?"

"You," she admitted slightly under her breath.

"Exactly," he said, making a waving motion with his hand that ended up directed at his sister.

"I also found out that my daughter's name is Stacy, and that she and the twins all have superpowers while Jack doesn't,"

"That means, you're gonna marry a non-supe!" Nora exclaimed happily, clapping her hands.

"Yeah but my question is who? Like I said, Jack reminded me of someone. I just can't figure out who,"

Both of them were stumped about the answer to this question.

"You said that this dream continued right where your first one left off right?" Nora asked.

Max nodded.

"Yeah pretty much,"

"Well then maybe your next dream will continue where this one left off," she said, to which Max began stroking his chin nodding in approval.

"I guess it's the only way," Max realized, disappointment clearly heard in his voice.

"Maybe you'll see her before your dream," Nora reasoned trying her best to encourage her brother.

"I highly doubt it,"

Nora was about to protest, when a yawn interrupted her.

"You should get to bed. It's an early day tomorrow,"

Nora nodded, yawning again as she climbed the stairs.

"Hey Max," she said when she was almost at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah?" he asked as he turned to face his little sister.

"Don't worry. You'll figure it out,"

As soon as she left, Max let out a deep sigh.

"I sure hope so,"

Max did his best to keep his mind on school and off of his future, but it proved to be harder than he had originally thought.

He would find himself looking around at the girls in the halls, trying to see if they reminded him of his future son.

He would peer out of the corner of his eye around the classrooms at anyone that even remotely resembled the picture in his head, but at the end of the day he had turned up with even fewer answers than he had begun with.

He was at his locker putting away his history book when he heard the voice of his twin call out to him.

"Ugh!" he groaned as he slammed his locker shut, whirling to face his sister.

"What?" he snapped.

"Someone, put a bucket of water on top of the door to history class, and it soaked me and Sarah!" she seethed at her brother.

Max examined his sister, realizing that she had in fact been recently drenched with water, her hair dripping and her sweater soaked through.

"So? Why are you coming to me?" he asked.

"Because you clearly did this!" she said, pointing an accusatory finger at her brother.

"Pft. I did not soak you. That is such a low level prank, even Link could pull it off,"

"Oh come on! I know it was you! What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"That you have horrible grammar. It would be 'Sarah and I'. Not, 'me and Sarah'," he corrected his twin, brushing past her.

"And Mom and Dad say you're the smarter one," he muttered under his breath.

"Hey! Get back here Grammar Nazi!" Phoebe cried as she stormed after her twin.

"Whaaaaat?" Max asked exasperatedly, dragging out the word.

"You can't just walk away!"

"Uh, yes I can. Just watch me,"

"You have to fix this! I mean, just look at us! We look,"

Phoebe paused as she took a moment to look at her friend as she asked a fellow student for the cleaning cloth for his glasses.

"Sarah almost always looks like that," Max pointed out.

Phoebe hit him in the arm, insulted by what her brother had said about her friend.

"What? It's true!" he said, rubbing his arm where Phoebe had hit him.

"She's,"

Max's thought were unexpectedly derailed as Sarah took her glasses off to clean the lenses.

She lifted them up to the light to examine them, scrubbing them some more when she noticed another spot of water.

Her glasses slipped out of her hands, and the boy who had lent her his cloth, bent down to retrieve them.

In that moment, Sarah looked directly at Max, their eyes locking despite the fact that she was practically blind without her glasses.

Beautiful blue eyes.

Medium red hair in between fire and auburn.

Max couldn't breathe, his lungs felt as if they were filled with lead. His heart had stopped beating and his eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

His mind was only able to conjure up two words.

"Oh no,"

Ooooooooh! The plot thickens! You weren't expecting THAT were you guys!

Always, WOBE


	5. If Only I Could Change This

Max went through the rest of school in a daze, his mind only knowing that this was his fate and he could do nothing about it.

But how could this be possible?

His future couldn't possibly be that redheaded nerd!

And what was worse, Max knew that his future also held four children. Four children that he had with Sarah of all people.

He shuddered at the thought.

When he got home that afternoon, he simply waved to his mom before he slid down his lair, his mind all fuzzy from the revelation that he experienced earlier.

He tossed his backpack on the floor before he flopped down on his bed, the frame squeaking with the sudden force applied to it.

"Tough day at school kid?" Doctor Colosso asked from his cage.

"You have no idea," Max muttered, his arm laying over his eyes as his head laid on his pillow.

Max heard footsteps as they hurriedly bounded his stairs.

"Go away Phoebe," he groaned out, not even bothering to look and see if it actually was his twin sister.

"You didn't even look at me!" Phoebe declared, her hands finding a home on her hips.

"Brilliant observation Frankenstein," he replied sarcastically, clapping slowly to add to the effect. "Now what do you want?"

"I want to know why you just froze right in the middle of our conversation," she prodded.

"You mean, your accusation of me. Like I said Pheebs, I didn't do that prank. It's far too juvenile and basic that it would be a waste of my time,"

"That doesn't explain anything. I want to know why you just froze like you did. You insulted Sarah, then I punched you in the arm,"

"Much harder than necessary mind you," Max pointed out, sitting up on his bed.

"and then you were about to continue going on about Sarah when you just suddenly clammed up. I asked if you were ok, but you just ignored me and ran away as fast as you could. I want to know what that was all about,"

Max about to tell his sister to buzz off, when another set of footsteps came down his stairs.

"Phoebe, Mom said she needs you to set the table," Nora said.

"What? Can't you do it Nora?" she begged her little sister, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Nope. It's your turn. Get yourself and your idle hands up to the cupboards and use that telekinesis for something important," Nora said, pointing upstairs.

"Idle?" Phoebe asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister's choice of vocabulary.

"Our English teacher has a word a day calendar,"

"Ahhh,"

"What are you doing still standing here? Get upstairs girlie!" Nora ordered.

"Ugh. Fine. But this isn't over Max!" Phoebe said, keeping an eye on her brother as she climbed the stairs.

"So what wont Phoebe let you forget about?" Nora asked innocently, coming into the view of her brother.

"UGH!" Max groaned, throwing his head back down into his pillows.

"Wow. Must have been a real doozey,"

"Phoebe and Sarah got soaked today by a bucket of water over the history class door, and Phoebe blames me for it," Max explained as he stared up at his ceiling.

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"I know,"

"You would never do a prank that's that simple! You're the prank king! Complex pranks are what make you the best!" she said.

"Thank you!" Max praised her.

"You're welcome. Move over,"

Max did as his sister told him, making enough room on his mattress for her to join him, which she did. Nora laid down beside her brother and looked up at the ceiling with him.

They settled into a comfortable silence before Nora sighed.

"So tell me. What really got your ire up today?" she asked.

Max turned his gaze towards her, an eyebrow raised.

"It's the letter 'I' this month," she explained, Max nodding in understanding.

"To be honest, it really has nothing to do with what Phoebe talked about,"

"Ok. Then what does it have to do with?"

Max took a deep breath before continuing.

"I found her,"

Nora looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Found who?" she asked.

Max tossed her a pointed look.

Nora's jaw dropped as soon as realization struck her.

She sat up, while Max stood from his mattress and headed towards his desk.

"You mean 'her'? As in like, the future Mrs. Thunderman? The mother of your children? The mystery woman? The,"

"Yes Nora!" Max interrupted her, whirling around to face his sister.

She noticed the irritation in his facial features, his eyebrows lowered and his fists clenched at his sides.

"Sorry. This is just, really stressful," he apologized, his expression softening and his fists unclenching.

"It's ok. Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, walking up to him.

Max shook his head, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"That's ok. If you do want to talk about it, you know where to find me,"

Max nodded in reply.

"Hey Nora?"

"Yeah?" she said, turning back around near the top of the stairs.

"Thanks. For everything,"

A smile slowly spread across her face at hearing her brother's appreciation.

"You're welcome," she said as she continued to exit his room.

Max sighed as he looked at the drawer that held his personal chronicle. He really should write down his findings in it, but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to.

He took a deep breath and opened the drawer, gazing down at the blue leather cover. Billy had gotten him the notebook for his fourteenth birthday, telling him that it would be a great way to record the important things in life when they happen.

Max had originally thought that he would throw the thing away the first chance he got, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to get rid of it.

Max smiled at the thought of simpler days. Ones when he didn't have to deal with weird dreams and even weirder feelings.

He remembered the time that he almost ruined Christmas for his entire family, but at the last second, he changed his mind and made it the best Christmas that Nora had ever had. They were closer now because of that, Nora coming to Max first if she had a problem and even though Max loved the attention and felt honored by being her first choice, he eventually told her that she needed to go to their parents first.

That Christmas had been when he first had that creepy dream about the future where Nora refused to become evil no matter what the rest of her family did or said.

He had been able to change that future by giving his sister the one thing that she wanted for Christmas, and ended up becoming not only an incredible Christmas decorator because of it, but also a big fan of the holiday.

As he began to get lost in his thoughts, he heard footsteps for the third time that hour on his stairs.

"Hey Max?" Nora said as she peeked in to look at him.

"Yeah?" he responded turning to look at her.

"I forgot something,"

"What's that?"

"Um. It's time for dinner," she said sheepishly.

Max shook his head at his little sister's forgetfulness, smiling as he followed her upstairs.

He turned back for a second to gaze at the open drawer with the blue book.

 _"_ _There has to be a way that I can change fate,"_ he thought as he climbed his stairs and headed to the kitchen.

 _"_ _There just has to,"_


	6. Pranks for that

Sarah grunted as she attempted to pull all of the gum out of her hair, crying out in pain as another piece came free along with a few strands of ginger hair.

She sighed as she examined herself again, finding another waded up piece of the sticky substance on the back of her head.

She had been experiencing a rather rotten week, starting with a failed grade on her biology quiz. She had had to do three extra credit project in order to get her overall grade back up to where it belonged.

Then, there was the snake that someone had placed in her lunch box the following day. Of course the joke was on the pranker since Sarah actually enjoyed snakes. In fact, she was rather disappointed that she had no idea who the mystery prankster was because that meant she couldn't thank him for her new pet.

Her attitude changed the next day though, when the "Phantom Pranker" worked double time, filling her backpack with toothpaste as well as causing her mashed potatoes to explode all over her at lunch.

The week had progressively gotten worse, to the point where Sarah had to pull gum out of the folds in her shirt and pulling hair out of her scalp with every single pre-chewed sugar.

"Last one," she sighed, thankful to finally be freed of the sticky stuff.

Before she exited the bathroom, she inspected the doorway, making sure there were no booby traps of any kind.

When she had come to the conclusion that there were none, she left the room, heading to her next class.

Max watched Sarah closely that entire week, eager to see her reactions after every prank he pulled.

She had gotten more and more upset every day, almost breaking down when she had discovered the toothpaste in her backpack.

He was vigilant to her every move, but at the same time stayed out of sight as much as possible, sticking to the shadows and the hallways.

He rubbed his hands together manically as he watched the redhead leave the bathroom and head into her next classroom. He was preparing for the big show-stopping moment when he would complete his final prank and make sure that he would forever be rid of the future of being married to the ginger-haired nerd.

"Max!" his twin called to him.

Max groaned at the sound of his sister's voice saying his name. J

"Just my luck," he muttered.

"Geography class. Isn't that where you should be right now?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"And shouldn't little miss perfect be in her honors math class with all the other nerds?" he asked sarcastically, a smug look on his face as his sister's expression changed to one of panic.

Phoebe ran off to her class, while Max sauntered to his own.

He smirked as he sat down, his teacher not even bothering to point out that he was late again.

Max knew he would get the last laugh today. He was determined to.

No one was really shocked by the fact that Max was the first person to bolt out the door as soon as the bell had rung.

He immediately returned to his hiding spot, readying himself for the biggest prank of the year.

Max's ideas were instantly crushed however, when Sarah walked out of the classroom surrounded by several other students, one of which was a very pretty girl whom he had never seen before.

" _Rats! I can't have a cute possibly dateable girl mad at me for the rest of High School!_ " he thought as he watched the tight knit group walk in and out of his prank point.

Max sighed out through his nose, ready to return his detonator to his backpack, when Billy approached his brother.

"What are you doing here?" Max asked, genuinely curious that his little brother would be at his school.

"Mom and Dad are having a meeting with the principal and they forced me to come along since I don't have any after school activities like Nora does," Billy explained, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

"What's that?" the boy asked, his attention suddenly captured by Max's detonator.

Before he could even get the words out, Billy had grabbed the device and pressed the main button, eager to see what would happen.

A scream sounded through what seemed like the entire school.

And unfortunately for Max, it was an extremely recognizable scream.

"MAX!" Phoebe yelled as she stormed up to her brothers, a raged look on her face along with a significant amount of super glue, feathers, and rice.

"I did not do this!" Max said, putting his hands up in defense. "Billy," he began, but was interrupted by the fact that Billy was nowhere to be seen.

"Billy isn't here? Is that what you wanted to tell me?" Phoebe yelled at him.

Max groaned, rolling his eyes at his sister's overly dramatic attitude.

"Phoebe stop being so dramatic," he said, walking around her so as not to get into contact with her and end up with glue on his own clothes.

"You get back here Maximus Thunderman!" she exclaimed as she stormed after him.

Max instantly picked up his pace, running down several hallways as his twin chased after him.

He eventually lost her due to the fact that the glue was beginning to harden causing some of her senses to be partially impared.

She growled as she headed back to the main hall where she was greeted by Sarah and Cherry.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Cherry asked as she looked over her friend.

"No I'm not alright Cherry! Max did this!" she yelled, gesturing to herself.

"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up," Sarah said.

The girls helped Phoebe to the bathroom where they began to remove as much as they could of the dried bits of glue, the feathers and the sticky white rice.

Cherry's phone dinged, the owner pulling it from her pocket and unlocking it.

"Oh man! I'm sorry Phoebe. My Mom needs me home right away!" she said, putting her cell back into her pocket.

"It's ok Cherry. We can get the rest of this stuff off," Phoebe replied.

Cherry thanked her friend and almost hugged her, but then remembered that Phoebe was covered in stuff.

"See you tomorrow!" Cherry called as she left the girls' bathroom, her voice drifting down the hall.

Max had been lurking around the school in search of his now vindictive sister, determined to avoid her at all costs.

"He just makes me so mad sometimes!" he heard Phoebe say as he walked down one of the halls. He realized that he was near the girls' bathroom, and decided he needed to make it past the doorway in order to be home free.

"I take it that you're referring to Max?" Sarah asked, removing another wad of feathers from the back of Phoebe's shirt.

"No I'm talking about the Prime Minister of England. Of course I'm talking about Max!" Phoebe exclaimed exasperatedly.

"You just need to be patient with him," Sarah replied.

"Patient? Sarah, have you even met my brother? He doesn't make it possible to be patient. Besides, you do realize that he's the person that's been pranking you all week long right?"

Sarah nodded.

"I had my suspicions," she said.

"Then why in the world would you be defending him?" Phoebe asked, thoroughly confused.

"I'm not defending his actions. I'm just saying that maybe there's more to Max than meets the eye. And maybe you're judging him a little too early,"

"Sarah, if this had happened to you, you would have been furious!"

"Oh I know. I was furious this morning when I was hit with that gum catapult,"

"Is that why there's so much red hair in the trash can?" Phoebe asked.

Sarah nodded.

Phoebe shuddered, feeling like she was about to throw up.

Max listened carefully to the conversation, his eyes growing wide as Sarah spoke.

She had defended him! And after all that he had done to her.

Max walked past the bathroom door in a daze, thinking about what his sister had said, and then how Sarah had spoken on his behalf.

In fact, the entire time that Max walked home, all he could think about was Sarah and how she had defended him even though she hadn't condoned his actions.

"Maybe there's more to Max than meets the eye,"

Her words repeated over and over in his mind as he descended the stairs to his room.

He didn't hear the words of Doctor Colosso as he spoke to the teenager. He didn't hear anything aside from the words that Sarah had said and the sound of his own heartbeat.

He simply plopped back onto his bed, pondering over the things he had heard earlier.

Even when he had been called for dinner, he simply replied that he wasn't hungry.

His mother had come down to his room, thermometer in hand as she approached her son.

"I'm fine Mom. Just really tired. I think I'm gonna go to bed,"

"Alright honey. Maybe that is the best thing for you right now. You sleep well sweetie," she said before she returned upstairs to the rest of her family.

Max turned off his lights, changed into his pajamas and curled up under his covers, ready to give his restless mind a little sleep.


	7. I Don't Know What the Future Holds

The footsteps came closer to the kitchen, all five of the current occupants awaiting the arrival of their sixth family member.

"How's my favorite family doing?" she asked as she peeked around the corner into the kitchen.

There was no mistaking that red hair.

"Great!" Stacy exclaimed happily.

"Wonderful to hear it!" Sarah said as she went to the fridge and pulled out the orange juice, pouring herself a cup of the citrus juice.

"I could've done that for you Mom," Alex said, turning to face his mother.

"What have we told you kids about using your powers too often? You can't use your powers for absolutely everything or else you'll end up relying on them too much," Max reminded his children as he took a sip from his coffee.

"We know Dad. It's just, we like having powers and if we," Alex began.

"Can only use them in the house and around you guys it gets kind of boring," Dixon finished for his twin.

Jack shuddered as he ate the last bite of his breakfast. "How you guys do that is beyond me!" he said, rising from his seat to head to the sink and take care of his dishes.

"You mean how we,"

"Finish each other's sentences,"

"So well?" the boys asked between the two of them.

"Yes! See that's exactly what I'm talking about!" Jack exclaimed, pointing at his younger brothers.

"But why do you,"

"Hate is so much?" the boys asked their brother in the same manner as before.

"Would you stop that! It gives me the creeps!" Jack shuddered again as he placed his rinsed dishes into the dish washer.

Sarah took the empty seat next to Max and placed her glass of juice on the table. Her other hand immediately went for her husband's hand, which he willingly gave to her.

"Boys, stop bothering your brother or else no TV for a week… again," their mother threatened them.

"Awe Mom!" the twins said in unison, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"No. You two need to stop freaking your brother out. And only burn your food if you're going to eat it Stacy," Sarah said to her daughter without even needing to look at her.

Stacy paused her actions, ready to boil her cereal, and instead picked up her spoon and continued to eat the now soggy substance.

"We gotta go. We'll see you guys when we get home," Jack told his family after looking at the clock on the wall. He approached his parents, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek and nodding at his dad.

"Come on guys," he told his brothers as they bounded from their seats, stuffing their dishes into the dishwasher before sprinting into the living room and grabbing for their sneakers and messenger bags.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" the twins called out in synch before they exited their house and raced each other to Jack's car.

Jack followed suit, grabbing his backpack from off the sofa and slinging it over his shoulder, pronouncing one last goodbye before closing the door behind him.

"And we better get you to school too young lady," Sarah directed to her daughter as she finished the final bite of her cereal.

"See you later hon. Love you," she said to Max as she kissed him goodbye, leaving the kitchen with Stacy right behind her.

Max cleaned up the kitchen before he too headed out of the house, locking the door after he had closed it.

His black truck chirped as he unlocked it, hopping into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. He eventually pulled up to a hospital building and jumped out of his truck, locking it as he entered the building, whistling a tune as he went.

"Someone's in a good mood!" the receptionist said, smiling at Max.

"Good morning to you too, Maggie," he replied as he walked past her and grabbed the clipboard that she was holding out to him.

"Look at you! All smiling this morning! I'm guessing you must have finally gotten a good night's sleep?" a man with red hair and a white doctor's jacket on asked, grinning at Max.

"Yes I did. Thank you for asking Justin," Max nodded toward the ginger.

Suddenly, the sound of a voice coming over the intercom interrupted the conversation.

"Paging Doctor Thunderman to room 206. Paging Doctor Thunderman to room 206," the lady's nasally voice said.

Max awoke with a start, his mind and heart racing at an incredible pace.

He was a doctor? And he had four kids? AND he _married_ Sarah?

"What happened to me?" he muttered as he laid his head back down on the pillow.

"I'm supposed to be evil. I don't care if that's my future. I can't marry Sarah. And I won't," he determined as he closed his eyes for the second time that night.

"I refuse to,"

Eventually, the teenager fell back asleep, his mind and heart calmed back to their normal pace.

"…and I made sure that your portrait is done in monochromatic form sir. Will there be anything else?" a tall, thin woman asked Max, her chestnut hair pulled back into an extremely uncomfortable looking bun.

"What do mean? Who are you?" he asked, completely confused as to where he was.

"Sir, if you tested your memory eraser on yourself again, I highly suggest that you refrain," she said in a rather monotone voice.

"Yes. That's what happened. Explain this to me again?" he asked, leaning on his elbows on the top of his desk.

The woman sighed.

"I am your secretary Ms. Fincher. This is your office. You are the new ruler of the planet. You defeated your twin sister Phoebe, and she is now incarcerated in your secret underground prison,"

Max was about to ask another question when his secretary interrupted him.

"Incarcerated means that she is locked up,"

"That's not what I was going to… wait. I rule the world?"

She nodded.

"Ha ha! Finally! I did something right for once! Oh I can't wait to rub this in Phoebe's face!" he laughed, manically rubbing his hands together.

"You already do that sir. Regularly,"

"Of course I do! Because I am pure evil! Now, what about my family? Where are they?"

"Your parents are,"

"No, no. I mean my children. My (swallow) wife?"

Ms. Fincher gave him a blank look, one of her thin eyebrows raised.

"You know. My personal family?"

"Sir you don't have one,"

"Come again?"

Ms. Finchel sighed again. Apparently this was a regular occurrence.

"I said, you don't have one sir. You believed romance and a family to be futile and unrewarding frivolities. And before you say anything, yes those were your exact words,"

Max practically jumped out of his plush, leather, office chair.

"WHAT? You can't be serious! What about my boys? And my little girl? Stacy! And Jack! And the twins? They have to be here right!"

Max froze in his spot.

"Right?" he said, barely above a whisper.

"No sir. You have no family. You never wanted one,"

"No! No! No! This isn't right!"

"Max!"

He heard his name faintly being called, and before he knew it, he was back in his lair, his father looking down at him with more worry on his face than Max had ever seen before.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Max asked, pushing himself to sit up on his bed.

"I could sense you were in distress. I came as soon as I could. What happened?"

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Max mumbled as he pulled his knees up to his chest.

"Max. Tell me the truth. Is this about a dream?" Hank asked his son.

Max paused for a moment before he nodded his head.

Hank sighed.

"I think it's time we had a talk son. One that has been way too overdue,"

Max swallowed.


	8. Or, Maybe I Do?

"So tell me. How long have you been having dreams?" Hank asked his eldest son as they sat on Max's bed.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about,"

"Max," his dad pressed. He knew his son better than that and he told him so.

Max sighed, knowing he had been unable to convince his dad to leave his room early.

"About a month. But they're really sporadic,"

Hank sighed, shaking his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I knew this would happen. You'd unlock your Night Visions, and I wouldn't be prepared for it,"

"What? Dad, what are you talking about?" Max asked utterly confused by his father's words.

"What were your dreams about?" Hank asked, purposely avoiding the question his son had posed.

"The future,"

Max really didn't want to go beyond that.

"What about the future?" his father pressed further.

Max muttered something under his breath that was indecipherable.

"What was that? I may be Thunderman, but I don't have super hearing son,"

"I said," and then he mumbled the rest yet again.

"What?" Hank asked, leaning in closer and putting a hand to his ear.

"I said that they were about my future family!" Max said, a little louder than necessary.

"Son, I need to know this stuff. Was there anyone in your dreams that you know already right now?"

Max nodded.

"Who?"

Max paused before he continued. He felt like could trust his father with this.

"Sarah,"

"Phoebe's friend? The redhead?"

"That's the one," Max confirmed.

"Why was she in your dream? No. Don't tell me. I'm not supposed to know that much,"

"Are you even supposed to know this much?" Max asked under his breath.

"Do you want to know what's happening or not?" Hank asked his son, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yeah. What's wrong with me Dad?" he asked, the first sign of vulnerability making it onto his face.

"Nothing's wrong with you Max. This is perfectly normal. At least for the male members of the Thunderman family it is,"

"What is?"

"You have unlocked a very unique and rare power Max. They are called Night Visions. They are dreams that allow you to see glimpses of your future,"

"Really? Wait, you said male members? So, does that mean I have something that Phoebe doesn't?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes it does,"

"Oh I can't wait to rub it in her face! Just wait till,"

"No Max. You can't tell Phoebe. In fact, you can't tell anyone. This is a secret power that no one must no about,"

"But why?" Max whined.

"Because, if anyone found out that you possessed the ability to have

Night Visions, than every villain from her to Mount Fiji would want to try and capture you, using you power for themselves. They could alter the future Max, and that would be more dangerous than any of us can fathom,"

Max sighed.

"I really wanted to rub in Pheebs' face though!"

"I know Max. But the safety of the world is a little more important than your rivalry with your sister. Don't you think?"

"Maybe a little," Max muttered.

"Yeah, just a little," Hank mimicked his son.

"So, why are these, Night Vision things happening now?" Max asked, changing the subject back to the original point of this whole conversation.

"You finally unlocked them. It happens around the age of eighteen or nineteen. I was nineteen when I unlocked mine,"

"Ok, cool. But, what are they even for?"

"They are supposed to help you understand your future, your destiny. It's meant to help you realize the potential that you have. Point you in the right direction,"

"I wouldn't say that telling me who I'm going to marry, and showing me my kids is necessarily pointing me in the 'right direction' Dad," Max explained, crossing his arms.

"You saw who you were going to marry?" Hank asked his son, a shocked expression spreading across his face.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"You must have an exceptional version of the Night Vision. You're only meant to get a vague picture of what your future life will look like. Nothing detailed," Hank explained.

"Well I did get a detailed look. So what am I supposed to do now?"

Hank thought long and hard before he replied.

"I really don't know son. But perhaps, the reason your Night Visions are stronger are because you're meant to do even greater things than you think you can,"

The silence settled back into Max's room as the two men sat thinking over the current situation.

"Well," Hank said finally interrupting the quiet. "I should probably let you get some sleep,"

"Hey Dad," Max said as his father began climbing his stairs.

"Yes?" Hank asked, looking to his son.

"What does it mean if you have one dream that shows a completely different future from the rest?"

Hank sighed.

"It means,"

He paused, trying to think of the right words to say.

"It's supposed to show you what life will be like if you decide to pursue only what benefits you,"

"But it's not meant to be detailed either, right?" Max asked hopefully.

Hank shook his head sorrowfully.

"No Max. That one is meant to be detailed. That's the scary part. Whatever you dreamt son, is your future if you continue on your current path towards evil,"

Max didn't allow the fear that he felt deep down in his soul manifest itself on his face, simply nodding in reply to his father's words.

"Thanks Dad. I'm glad we had this talk," he admitted.

He hopped off his bed, and ran towards his father, hugging him.

"Love ya Dad," he whispered.

"I love you too Max," Hank said softly in response.

Max leapt back down his stairs and into his bed again, shutting his bedside lamp that he had had on for the conversation, off.

Hank headed back upstairs and went to his own bed.

"What was wrong?" his wife asked, a deeply concerned look on her face.

"He's got his Night Visions Barb,"

"That's wonderful! Isn't it?"

"I just hope that this will finally wake the boy up. Make him come to his senses and realize his true potential,"

"That's all we really can do isn't it,"

Hank nodded.

"It really is Barb,"

Max never got back to sleep.

His mind was now haunted with the visions of the future. His future.

As he lay there, awake and his mind going at a mile a minute, a realization hit him like a cement truck.

He didn't like the idea of ruling the world. Not if it meant giving up Jack, Alex, Dixon and Stacy.

He sighed.

How had he gotten into this mess? He was already so attached to these kids and they had only been in his dreams.

His dreams of all things! That was just as ridiculous as his sister's best friend's name if not more so.

Max shook his head.

Nope. There was nothing more ridiculous than being named after a fruit. Nothing could convince him of that.

But he still couldn't bare the thought of losing those faces forever, never even meant to exist in the first place.

And he had to be completely honest with himself.

That thought terrified him.


	9. A Monumental Moment in Time

Max kept a close record of all his dreams from then on, especially after he would do something that solidified him as closer to a villain.

Not much changed, and whenever a dream seemed altered, Max would quickly destroy the item that he had just built, or amend a grade that he cheated on, desperate to keep the dream of his future children alive.

Although he hadn't completely changed his life, it was very obvious to all who knew Max that he was quite different.

The months went by, and there were little things that Max began to notice around him, things that he had never even tried to notice before, whether they were in his dreams at night or in real life around his fellow students.

And then, one day it happened.

He never thought that it would, but he noticed the redheaded nerd and the strange little quirks that made her Sarah.

Like the fact that she would always twist a stray strand of hair from her ponytail in between her fingers whenever she talked with her friends. How she bit her lip whenever she intently studied something in class. How she liked to pick the red marker whenever she would write on the white board in biology. How she would always go for the orange slices instead of the apple ones whenever they had fruit in the cafeteria. How she would nibble on the end of her pencils whenever she read alone in the library.

In fact, Max was starting to notice the redhead more than he had ever even believed her to be a real person, but he was discovering quite quickly that she was in fact, a real person with many similarities to himself.

He had only ever noticed her for being an amazingly annoying but brilliant girl that was practically stalking him in her spare time.

But now, now he couldn't really see her the same way.

And he noticed that he wasn't one hundred percent annoyed out of his mind when they had been paired together for an assignment in English. He was more like eighty-two percent annoyed.

And that percentage continued to consistently dwindle as time passed.

It was May already, and the senior prom was steadily approaching, something that Phoebe would not let anyone in her family forget.

"Did I show you the picture of the dress I want? I have to show you the picture of the dress I picked out!" she squealed one day to her family one day at the dinner table.

They all groaned.

"Yes Phoebe! You've show it to us, like, twenty-seven times!" Nora complained.

"I think it's actually been twenty-nine by now Nora," Billy corrected her, spooning a spoonful of corn into his mouth.

"I'm just so excited about this! Link and I haven't been to any really big events since we started dating, and I just want everything to be perfect!" Phoebe explained.

"I completely understand Sweetheart. Let's just keep all of the preparations on the down low for now," Barb told her daughter, patting the top of her hand affectionately.

"Alright. Changing the subject, you know who doesn't have a date for prom?"

"I have absolutely no clue Phoebe. Who?" Hank asked her with a little more sarcasm than was necessary.

"Sarah. And you know, I overheard who she wanted to go to the dance with,"

"Overheard? Phoebe, you were a part of the conversation!" Max pointed out.

"Anyway, she told me that she wanted to go with,"

"Me. Did she happen to say me?" Max asked his sister, interrupting what she had been about to say.

"Yes she said you. And I was thinking, how perfect would it be if you took her to Senior prom!" she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together in her enthusiasm.

There was a long awkward pause before Max finally answered.

"Yeah, ok," he said, rising from his seat and putting his dishes in the dishwasher.

"Thanks for supper Mom. May I be excused?" he asked.

Barb simply nodded to her son, the entire family watching him as he retreated to his downstairs dwelling place.

"Did that just…. Happen?" Phoebe asked, pointing her thumb towards the entrance to Max's domain.

Everyone at the table nodded.

Max took a deep breath as he prepared himself to talk to the one girl that he had pretty much sworn off since he had started going to school in Hiddenville.

She came out of class with Cherry and Phoebe, all three girls talking a mile a minute.

Max approached them and cleared his throat in order to get their attention.

"Could I talk to you for a moment Sarah?" he asked her.

Sarah pointed to herself as if to confirm that she really was the person that Max wanted to speak with.

Max nodded in response.

"Sure Max!" she said excitedly.

Max pulled her off to the side, ready to pop possibly the most important question of his teenage life.

"I wanted to ask,"

He paused for a moment, unsure if this was really what he wanted to do.

As Sarah looked up at him expectantly, he saw the face of someone else. He saw the eyes of his twin boys, the mischievous smile of his daughter, and the intelligent face of his eldest son who would do more without powers than Max could have ever dreamed of.

Strengthening his resolve, Max pressed forward with his question.

"I wanted to ask, if you would like to go with me to prom?"

It was silent for five seconds, which seemed to be the longest five seconds of Max's entire life, before she finally replied.

"Are you serious? Or is this another one of your pranks?" she asked, trying to make certain that he dreams actually were coming true and that this wasn't some hoax.

"Yes Sarah. I'm serious,"

Instantly, she squealed. But to his surprise, it wasn't a squeal that annoyed him to no end like Phoebe's. In fact, it was a squeal that he could probably tolerate.

"Great. I'll pick you up around seven then. That sound good?" he asked her once the high pitched sounds she had made ceased.

"Sounds wonderful," she sighed longingly.

"Good. See you then," he told her as he left possibly the most ecstatic girl behind.

Sarah sighed again as she watched his retreating form.

"I wonder what color he's going to wear?" she thought to herself as she headed off to her next class.

Max stood outside the door of the Diggings house, ready to ring the doorbell.

He adjusted his black suit jacket for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, anxious about the night that lay before him.

He took a deep breath, looking himself over one more time before her finally rang the doorbell.

Ten seconds later, a red haired man opened the door greeting Max with a solid handshake.

"Nice to finally meet you Max. Sarah has told me so much about you. I personally wanted to thank you for taking her to prom tonight. It's practically all she's talked about!"

"Thank you for letting me take her. What time should I have her home by?" Max asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

Mr. Diggings gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Anytime at all. Sarah rarely gets out, and I think she would simply appreciate a night where she didn't have to be home at ten. She should be down any minute,"

"Then in that case, I'll just head outside to wait for her. If that's alright,"

"Just fine," the man replied.

Max thanked him again before he sat on the front steps of the house, waiting for his prom date to come out.

As he sat, he wondered if he had made a mistake, or if he had made the right decision.

The door opened, Sarah apologizing for taking so long.

"It's fine don't worry…." The words died on his tongue as soon as he turned around.

And in that moment, he knew he had made the right decision.


	10. The Future is Ours: Finale

Max's brain was unable to think, his body felt as if it were cemented to the ground.

There was no possible way that girl that stood in front of him now, and the squealing nerd from two weeks ago were the same person.

Her red hair was out of its typical ponytail and instead graced her shoulders in soft curls. Her short sleeve bright blue dress brought out the color of her eyes which were not hidden behind glasses for once, while the black bow tied slightly to the side gave her a classy look. Her ensemble had been completed by a pair black flats and a black cardigan slung over her arm.

In short, she looked simply amazing.

Max shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind enough in order to come up with real words.

"Um, shall we go?" he asked her, offering his arm.

Sarah smiled broadly at him and nodded, not trusting her voice.

He lead her to the passenger side of his car, before he practically ran to the driver's side.

They drove the three minutes to the high school in silence. However, it didn't really seem like an awkward silence.

Max parked the car and hopped out, getting to Sarah's side before she could open the door, and opened it himself.

He offered her his arm again, and they walked to the front doors of the school.

Sarah began to fidget with the knee length skirt of her dress, attempting to smooth down the three layers of fabric.

"Sarah, stop," Max ordered, stopping just before the front doors.

He turned to look straight into her blue eyes. They really were beautiful.

"What? What did I do wrong? Maybe this was a bad idea,"

Max interrupted her words with a shake of his head.

"This was not a bad idea. I was the one who asked you, remember?"

Sarah nodded in reply.

"And I wouldn't have asked you if I hadn't been sure about it. And I was. And I am still sure about that now,"

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes and a smile slowly creeping onto her face.

"Really. Now stop fiddling with your dress and lets get in there!"

"You got it Max!" she exclaimed, a little bit of her quirkiness returning.

They walked through the double doors and were immediately greeted with the scent of inexpensive potluck style food and the sound of pounding pop music.

Sarah noticed all of the girl in their expensive dresses and fancy hairstyles and sighed at the thought that she hadn't been able to do the same for Max.

Max noticed her downcast gaze and decided he needed to lift her spirits.

"You look beautiful Sarah," he whispered, leaning in so that she could hear his voice better.

She looked up at him, and her eyes genuinely sparkled at the compliment. She didn't even care if he was being truthful or not. It had come from him, and that was all that mattered to her right now.

Neither one of them felt like dancing at the moment, and decide to instead enjoy each others company over red plastic cups of punch and plates of pigs in a blanket.

She laughed at a considerable amount of what he said, admitting to him that she just thought it was 'cute' how he said things.

Max chuckled at the punchline of one of Sarah's jokes when the current song ended and a new one began.

The laughter between the two of them died down as the slower song's beat and words settled into their minds.

Sarah sighed as the song continued and the couples on the dance floor began to settle into a steady sway.

Max noticed this and cleared his throat in order to get her attention.

"Would you, like to dance?" he asked her.

"Oh no that's ok! I'm just fine like this Max!" she said a little speedily.

Max raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

He rose from his seat and outstretched his hand towards her.

"Dance with me please," he said.

Sarah looked at his hand and then up at his face, smiling at the sincerity that was on it.

"I don't know how," she admitted.

Max shrugged. "Neither do I. But we can figure out how to do it together," he supplied.

Sarah laughed and placed her hand in his and he lead he to the dance floor.

"I at least know how we're supposed to look when we dance," Sarah commented as she put her hands as well as Max's into their proper places.

While most of the couples swayed to the old love song, Max and Sarah did their best attempt at a waltz.

And they honestly didn't look half bad. At least they were doing more than a sway.

Near the end of the song, they had gotten the steps almost down pat, causing the ending of the song to be a little bittersweet.

Everyone ceased their dancing in order to clap for the song, but dancing resumed as soon as another more upbeat song began to play.

Sarah instinctively pulled away from Max to head back to her seat.

What she wasn't expecting however, was Max pulling her gently back onto the dance floor by her arm.

"Max you know I can't dance! I'm horrible!" she said, covering her face with her hands.

"Yeah, you are,"

She gave him a surprised look.

"Hey! I'm not gonna deny it!" he replied, putting his hands up defensively.

"But I'm also not gonna let you sit down for you only senior prom. I promised your Dad, more or less, that you would have an amazing evening. And Maxey T may be a lot of things, but he never breaks a promise," he assured her.

Sarah nodded and rejoined him back on the dance floor.

She was still a little apprehensive, but Max was soon able to get her into it.

She was a horrible dancer. But that was ok. Max didn't desert her, or make her think twice about accepting his offer to go to prom together.

In fact, he tried to help her with a few of her moves, giving her pointers and smiling when a move she did actually resembled something cool.

They took a break to get some more punch, Sarah's giddiness returning slightly.

The DJ continued to crank out tunes, until Max took it upon himself to ask for a request, he excused himself and made sure that Sarah couldn't see him when he passed his note along to a younger boy who had obviously been asked to go to prom by an older girl.

The DJ got several boos from the crowd when he stopped in the middle of the current song. However cheers resumed as a new song took its place.

Sarah's ears instantly perked up at the sound of the latest song that was being belted out through the speakers.

Max returned to their seats and was a little bewildered by the look on his date's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned that something had happened while he had been gone.

"Are you hearing this?" she asked him excitedly.

"What do you mean?"

He was so confused.

"This is my favorite song!" she exclaimed, jumping from her seat and clasping Max's hands in her own.

"It is?"

She nodded vigorously in return.

"No. Way. It's my favorite too!"

He genuinely asked her if she would like to dance again, and in a heartbeat, Sarah agreed.

Max removed his suit jacket and hung it on the back of his chair.

Even if Max hated dressing up really fancy, he couldn't deny himself from wearing a three piece suit tonight. He looked killer in a vest! He rolled up the sleeves of his blue dress shirt as he rejoined his date.

Then he stopped.

There she was, standing by herself on the far end of the dance floor, and Max couldn't help but think how gorgeous she looked.

She was awkwardly standing there, waiting for him to return.

He quickly decided to remedy that.

He made his way through the crowd of teenagers and approached her.

He startled her when he grabbed her by the hand and spun her around. She squealed as he brought her in to meet him, causing him to laugh at her reaction.

She placed her free hand on his chest to steady herself, but quickly pulled away when she realized what she had done, color coming to her cheeks in an instant.

The words of the song rang in their ears as if they were the only two people in the entire building.

"Look at me now, I'm falling"

Max watched her as she danced, her moves more coordinated than earlier that night thanks to his direction.

"I can't even talk, still stuttering"

He felt his mouth go dry at the sight of her, even in all of her freckled and goofy glory. She wasn't perfect. She was far from it.

"All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

He realized that he wanted to be her somebody, the other half to complete the whole.

"All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah Is somebody to you"

He wanted to make all her dreams come true, be there for her whenever she fell, and keep her safe whenever the storms of life came.

"All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah Is somebody to you

(Yeah you!)"

The song ended, and the pair headed back to their seats in silence.

Max stole a glance at her, meeting her blue eyes with his brown ones as she attempted to do the same thing as him.

They chuckled at each other's behavior, the nervousness between them dissolving slightly.

Max brought his gaze down again, his vision settling on his hands.

Then he suddenly looked up at Sarah.

He looked down at his shirt, and up again at the dress his date was wearing.

"Did you.." he paused, unsure of how to proceed.

Sarah looked at him with a befuddled look in her eyes.

"Match us?" he finished his question.

Sarah smiled, her cheeks turning a rosy hue.

"I might have asked Phoebe what color you were going to wear," she admitted, her quirky smile returning to her face. "She told me that you prefer blues paired with black, so I did my best to accommodate that," she explained.

"That's… Actually one of the coolest things I've ever heard of,"

"Really?" she asked, ecstatic that he liked her idea. "You don't think it's too weird or childish?" she wondered.

Max shook his head.

"I think that it's pretty clever. I never would have thought of it. And I'm a super genius!"

"Yes you are," she whispered under her breath.

Max was unable to hear her due to all the noise, but he saw her speak and asked her what she had said.

"I said I could use some fresh air," she recovered quickly, grabbing her cardigan from off the back of her chair and headed out of the room.

Max hastily snatched his suit coat from off his chair and followed her.

She was strolling out in the night, gazing up at the stars with admiration.

"You didn't have to come with me," she told Max once he caught up to her and began walking beside her.

"No I didn't. But I wanted to," he told her.

They walked in silence for a while before Max noticed Sarah involuntarily shiver.

He took his suit jacket from laying limply across his arm and placed it around her shoulders.

She looked up at him with shock in her eyes, and uncertainty on her facial features.

"It's alright. You need it more than me!" he winked at her.

She smiled back up at him as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of his jacket.

Max was shocked by this.

"What? My arms are cold too!" she told him.

He laughed at her honesty.

They continued walking, asking questions between the two of them in order to get to know each other even more.

"Ok, my turn," Max said after Sarah had asked him three questions in a row. "Who is your favorite music artist?"

"Oh that's easy! Michael Bublé," She told him.

"You're kidding,"

"No. Why?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"He is one of my favorites," he told her, gesturing to himself with his hand.

There was a beat of silence before they turned to look at each other and belted out, "And I know someday that it'll all turn out you'll make me work so we can work to work it out. And I promise you kid, that I'll give so much more than I get. I just haven't met you yet"

They broke out into peals of laughter upon finishing.

"I never would have thought you to be a Michael Bublé fan!" she told him as they continued their walk.

They had entered the park, where a lone saxophone player was playing an old, jazzy tune.

"Excuse me for a minute," Max told as he made his way offer to the middle aged man. He fished a five dollar bill out of his pants pocket and dropped it into the man's open instrument case.

"Thank you sonny!" the man said, tipping his trilby toward the teenager.

"You're welcome. Do you happen to do requests?" Max asked, sticking his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Sure do. Whatcha wantin'?"

Max whispered his request, asking him out loud if he could play the song.

"Sure can sonny!"

Max nodded in thanks and headed back to Sarah who had sat down on a bench in his absence.

The saxophonist began to play a familiar tune both of them, Sarah bringing her gaze up to look Max in the eyes.

He had his hand outstretched to her as a silent request for her to come and dance with him.

She accepted, Max pulling her into his arms from off of the bench.

"Something stupid," she whispered in awe when she recognized the tune that was being played for them.

Max nodded.

"I like Frank Sinatra too," he admitted to her.

And as they danced the night away to the sound of a solo saxophone and underneath a canopy of stars, an unspoken vow passing between them that this had become their song. A song that many people would know, but that none would know the meaning behind.

They did their self-taught and rather awkward waltz to several songs that the man played for them as their sole witness.

Their speed began to slow, Max noticing Sarah trying to hide a yawn behind her hand before he took a glance at his watch. The electronic green numbers said that it was seventeen minutes until midnight and although Sarah's father had told him that he could keep Sarah out for as long as she wanted to stay, he was also a gentleman, and understood that Sarah needed her sleep.

He thanked the man again before he exited the park with a half-asleep Sarah with her head leaning on his shoulder.

It felt right, walking back to school with Sarah on his arm and he smiled.

They eventually made it back to school, Sarah able to make it there simply by the fact that Max had kept her awake by keeping her engaged in conversation with him.

He opened the passenger door of his car for her, where she practically plopped into the seat from utter exhaustion.

On the drive back to the Digging's house, Max took a major risk as he slowly reached across the console in between their two seats and held her hand. When she didn't object either by word or action, he proceed to weave his fingers in between her's.

All of this. This entire evening. It had felt so natural to him.

He pulled into Sarah's driveway and quickly unbuckled, being careful the entire time so as not to wake his date.

He got to her side of the car and noticed the she was very much asleep.

Knowing the situation demanded it, Max leaned over and picked her up bridal style into his arms.

He made it to her front door and rang the doorbell with his elbow. The slight dinging that it made was enough to rustle Sarah from her sleep, slowly bringing her back to consciousness.

Max hastily made sure that her feet were on the ground before she became completely coherent.

He stood by her side, waiting for her to become fully awake before he made another attempt at ringing the doorbell.

"I rang the doorbell but no one answered," Max suplied to the look of confussion that was on Sarah's face.

"Oh. What time is it?" she asked.

"12:06," Max told her after he glanced at his watch.

"My parents are asleep. They're heavy sleepers too. They wouldn't ever hear the doorbell ring," she told him.

"Oh,"

"It's fine. I have a key," she told him as she reached into the pocket of her cardigan to retrieve said item.

"Goodnight Max. Thank you for a wonderful evening," she said, smiling at him.

She was in the midst of pushing the door open, when something came over Max.

"Wait Sarah," Max ordered her, putting his hand gently on her wrist.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"I was wondering,"

"Yes Max?"

"Galactic Warrior 7 is coming out this week, and I was wondering if you would like to go. With me,"

"Are you asking me out?" she asked him.

He nervously rubbed the back of his neck, and instead of trusting his voice, he nodded as an answer.

She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

"I'd love to! Meet you there on Thursday for the five forty showing,"

"Actually, I'd rather pick you up if that's alright with you?"

"Sure. I look forward to it!" she told him waving before she entered her house.

It took everything in Max to keep from celebrating right then and there on the Digging's front lawn, but he kept himself in check until he had gotten back into his car.

He basically "yes!"-ed the entire drive home, so excited that the evening had gone so well.

Max practically skipped into the house, surprised to see his twin sitting on the sofa.

"And what are you so excited about?" she asked as she watched her brother handspring to the kitchen.

"I," he said perking his head out from the kitchen to say the word.

"Got a date," he finished once he exited with a sandwich and a glass of juice.

"What? How?!" Phoebe asked, closing her laptop.

"I asked, she said yes," he explained, gesturing with his sandwich while he spoke.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to Galactic Warrior 7," he replied, taking a bite of his food.

"She has got to be really desperate to go out with you in the first place! And then to agree to go see that abomination? Then she's got to be a huge geek like you!"

"Well I can't to hear what Sarah says when she finds out that you think she's a desperate geek,"

"Wait! What? You're going out with Sarah?!"

Max nodded.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to," he told her.

"You make literally no sense Max!" Phoebe told him.

"Neither do you!" Max told his twin, and before she could reply, he slid down to his room, pleased with how the night had gone.

As soon as Max was out of sight, Phoebe's phone chirped to let her know she had received a text message.

She nearly fainted when she read what Sarah had sent her.

\- Could you let Max know that I'll give him his suit jacket back on our date? Thanks!

Max could hear his sister's scream as the whole house began to wake from the noise.

He smiled broadly as he changed into his pajamas.

yes, the future was indeed sweet!

All songs beling to their respectivve owners, the Vamps and Frank Sinatra.

Hope you enjoyed this story! It is completed now!

Always, WOBE.


End file.
